With just a few work days left this legislative session, now is our last shot to make sure that Minnesota’s legislative leadership and Governor Dayton commit substantial bonding funds to housing. With homelessness on the rise and one-quarter of the state’s renters paying over half of their income for housing, we cannot afford to miss this opportunity.

Whether or not you have taken action so far this year, I ask you to take a few moments to contact Governor Dayton, legislative leadership, and your own legislators to let them know that you support bonding for housing. MHP’s action alerts make it easy to get a message, fax or phone call out, but you must do the clicking!

The House is expected to pass the much-awaited bonding bill on Monday with the Senate taking it up Tuesday. Housing is in good shape at this point; the current Senate and House bonding proposals include $35.5 million for housing, which actually exceeds the governor’s original proposal of $32 million.

However, until a bonding bill is passed, numbers on spreadsheets can change dramatically. Today’s Star Tribune points out that many projects that are high priorities for individual legislators and the governor are not included in the current House and Senate bonding proposals. There will be considerable effort to include those projects in the final deal making, which could happen this weekend. Furthermore, many legislators, particularly in the House, believe that the bonding package is already too large, and wish to cut projects. We had originally hoped for $40 million for housing– we must send the message: No further cuts to bonds for housing!

Bonding for housing would do a lot to address the things we are about: foreclosures, permanent supportive housing for the homeless, federally subsidized rental housing, and public housing. Not to mention create jobs.

Please click here to support housing today.

Chip Halbach,

Executive Director, MHP